248 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE’S FOOT. 
from their vertical disposition, endow it with a high degree 
of durability and retentiveness ; it makes its imprint on 
ground less hard than itself, but does not suffer any alteration 
in shape from contact with harder soil. The second is the 
excentric margin of the sole, destined to sustain a portion of 
the animal’s weight on moderately hard ground ; this is less 
tenacious than the wall, hut, perhaps, more retentive of 
the ground, from its softness ; though it makes little or no 
imprint, and is a powerful support to the former, enabling it 
to retain its normal configuration, and aiding materially in 
increasing its durability. The third, the frog, is, on the 
contrary, very elastic, receives impressions from the surfaces 
to which it may be applied, and is moulded to ground harder 
than itself. It therefore follows, that, with the unshod horse, 
the foot and the soil on which it treads are adapted to each 
other and fit closely together, and this naturally contributes 
to ensure and maintain a firm foothold while the animal is 
standing or in motion — more particularly the latter — and in 
proportion to the rapidity of the pace. 
The anterior hoof of the unbroken horse has, then, its two 
principal diameters about equal, or the transverse may even 
exceed the antero-posterior. Viewed from the front, the 
conical shape is at once observed ; while examined in profile, it 
appears to be cylindrical, the toe being parallel to the heels, 
which latter, again, are parallel to each other ; so that it may 
justly be asserted that it is the quarters which give the hoof 
its form. In this country it is rare to meet with the typical 
foot just described, for it may be said that this organ, like the 
whole body of the horse, is seldom perfectly developed before 
five years of age, and anterior to this period, the animal, in the 
great majority of cases, has been shod and worked, and its 
hoofs submitted to the deteriorating influences of an artificial 
regime. In those countries which are favoured with a better 
climate than our own, horses frequently labour during their 
whole lives without shoes, and consequently afford numerous 
examples of perfect feet. Professor Pellegrini, of Milan, had 
an opportunity of studying this subject during the five years 
he was with an Austrian cavalry regiment in Hungary. The 
horses living in perfect liberty in that country, having well- 
formed limbs and normal action, had circular hoofs ; in 
movement, the toe first touched the ground, then the whole 
of its circumference to the heels ; this manner of placing the 
foot caused the wall to be slightly rounded over at the 
toe. The horses that joined the regiment at four years 
of age, without ever having been shod, also had the toes 
of the hoofs gently rounded, and measuring a little more 
